Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I recognise Deputy Catherine Murphy's concerns but I believe this to be well within the remit of the Committee of Public Accounts. It goes to the heart of how public funds are often spent in our health services. This is a situation I do not fully appreciate as I do not know the geography as well as Deputy Burke in relation to what the optimum operation of this service will be. The difficulty is once one enters into an expensive contract with a private company, one is tied to that even if public health and common sense suggest an alternative course of action is warranted. This goes to the heart of how millions of euro of taxpayers' money is spent in delivery of our health services and I think this committee has an important role to play in getting to the bottom of whether or not the HSE signed us up to a contract that does not deliver the service we are paying for.